The News Release: 4.22.03

Jesus, I only write here one day a week, and I’m surrounded by so much drama I feel like I’m on One Life To Live minus the hot red-head. Evocator complains! Cody quits in response to being edited! Cody won’t come back! Evocator doesn’t care! Marshall and Kats wants Cody to come back but he won’t!

Guys… quick heads up: No one cares. No one cares if Evocator bitched to Ashish. No one cares if Cody quits. No one cares that other site writers would like Cody back. Hey, I like Cody… I like Evocator… but guess what? My life will go on normally if neither of them write for the site ever again. No one cares about inter-site drama. This isn’t Hyatte vs Zimmerman. It’s not people with thousands of readers trying to outshine each other. None of us are ‘Net Famous… which means, as I said, NO ONE CARES.

Unless you’re me, who scored the highest single day hit count of any article on 411 EVER! (*coff*witha95percentdropoffratethenextweekbutwhoscounting*hack*). Who was also single-handedly responsible for the most traffic in the music zone ever (*ahem*withabsolutelynohelpfromFARK.comatall*hack*) hm, dry in here today.

Seriously, though, knock it off guys. All the freakin intersite bickering makes us look Bush League. Single line, veiled jabs are one thing… full freakin columns dedicated to hatin on other site writers is stupid. You know why? Say it with me now: NO ONE CARES~! Yes, I made a jab at Modzelewski, I’m not innocent, but I didn’t take up ten pages. This isn’t the Wrestling Community where the writers get off on goofing on each other to fill space because there is a lack of news. Eh, whatever.

Now, if any of you have a problem with what I just said up there: feel free to EMAIL ME so we can work our inter-site issues out in PRIVATE. You don’t have to email the boss to have me edited (you won’t win… coding for the site > writing for the site) and you don’t have to flame me in your column.

Moving on:

Scott Peterson… I haven’t seen the media rush to convict this fast since, well, OJ… and HE was guilty.

Now, don’t read that as me saying that I don’t think Scotty might have done it… but let’s look at the state’s “Facts” so far. (Thanks Badboy *yoink*):

1) The guy went “fishing” on the morning of CHRISTMAS EVE… who does that? It’s California. Not only is it probably perfect fishing weather, but do they even have kids? Christmas don’t mean much if there’s no kids involved. I go to the movies on Christmas… does that make me a killer?

2) A week after “learning” of his wife’s disappearance, he attempts to sell her car. Does he need two cars? Were they planning on selling it anyway?

3) Two weeks later, he inquires about selling their home. Would YOU want to live in a house where you just lost a wife and son? I wouldn’t. Besides the fact, if he killed her in their home, wouldn’t you want to STAY in it for a bit, just so no one finds anything. Besides the fact 2, were they planning on moving anyway?

4) A week after that, he admits to having an affair. So… it’s Cali… who HASN’T had an affair. Besides the fact, Adultery isn’t Murder One. Besides the fact 2, Adultery happens every day… they ALL aren’t murderers.

5) Police then search his home a second time, making off with crateloads of “evidence”. I would need to see said “evidence.” But if they found something seriously criminal, they certainly waited an -awful- long time to act on it.

6) He then disappears until last Friday. The same day that Laci’s body washes up onshore VERY near where he was “fishing”, as does the body of their unborn son, Connor. YOU try and be hounded by the press for weeks and months on end and see how you react for a moment’s peace.

7) Upon being arrested, he is found with a lighter shade of hair, a thick goatee to match, 30 miles from the Mexican border, holding $10,000. See above. And, what kind of reaction do YOU have if it looks like your trying to be railroaded into taking the fall for something you didn’t do? I head to Canada… except I did it two months ago. I’ll be living in Ireland or Great Britain with a beer in my hand while they try and find the person who really did it and I can come home and pay my fine for “fleeing jurisdiction.”

8) A life insurance policy. Wahoo… again, who DOESN’T have a life insurance policy. Unless it was for a couple million, I don’t see the motive, especially if they weren’t hurtin.

Now, lets also keep in mind something the news has only been mentioning in passing… that being the fact they’ve found four other pregnant women wash up on shore there in the last two years. Are we making Scotty a Serial Killer now? Because that certainly seems like what they have here. Serial killers don’t have to kill every week, like in Silence of the Lambs. They can kill twice a year. Also, let’s remember, the State’s entire investigation has been focused on Scotty since this whole shindig began. If he ain’t the guy, someone’s got some ‘splainin to do somewhere.

Mailbag

Dave checks in to put Cribs into perspective: I have to take you to task on something about something when it comes to file-sharing/cd burning. Again you seem to (at least partially) justify free downloading by citingMTV Cribs. “Who’s getting hurt? I see all these
people on Cribs…” etc etc etc.

Time for a reality check. I’ve watched quite a few episodes of Cribs.
First of all, I honestly doubt that much of what you see on Cribs is actually OWNED by the respective people showing them off. (I’m excluding the many basketball and movie stars that have been on the show–lets focus on the musicians.) You have to be in the top percentile of earnings in the music world to be able to afford as much as these people do. Mariah Carey and Robbie Williams probably own their castles (Williams is 80’s-Michael-Jackson-Huge everywhere except the US) as does Russell Simmons who earned a small fortune selling (out?) Def Jam to Interscope. So thoseguys probably own everything they have.

For a lot of these guys though, the key is that favorite four-letter
word. RENT. Rented homes, rented cars, rented furniture, rented jewelry, etc, etc. Not only that, for most of these guys the record company has taken the iniative and given them the place. Take B2K for example — I saw them on the show. It’s inconceivable that after just one frickin’ CD they’ve already recouped enough money to own that house. What’s most likely is that their record company has given them the place as an HQ to go to between public appearances, etc. (Same goes for O-Town who also seemed to be living together in a group house.) this allows for all members of the group to be in the same place at the same time–(a hedge againt Axl Rose-Lisa Lopes-show-up-two-hours-late-for-the-video-shoot-diva behavior).

Also, Cribs has turned into a promotional feature in and of itself—record companies may set an artist up in a place for the express purpose of getting them on cribs so they can show off all that bling-bling.

That’s fine and you’re probably right. But my argument remains “you can’t cry poverty and then have the people who represent you showing off all the shit they have. It doesn’t work, and it’s certainly not going to gain you any public support (any more than throwing your millions/year legal team is going to). If they want to put the artists up in their beach-houses and what-not, that’s all well and good, but if they want to parade them around and show them off, they have to remember what the public is seeing, and what the public is going to think when they sue one of them for $96 billion dollars.

One important thing — don’t be an impressionable 13-year old. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THESE RAPPERS! Those guys are so fake it makes ya sick! Puffy, Master P, Dre and Jay-Z are legit rich, I’ll give them that. But most of these other guys are either renting or living far beyond their means. You know Jermaine Dupri right? Fancy Atlanta mansion? Shitload of cars? He recently got audited by the IRS and had a lot of the cars and furniture repo’d. Didn’t see that on cribs didya? Others will probably get what’s coming to them sooner or later too. It’s the same old, eternal story; the hits stop coming but the bills still gotta be paid, including them property taxes which are the real killer for a lotta people rich, middle-class, whatever.

This is true: and I know that most of the “big name artists” right now will be like retired professional sports players. When the big checks stop rolling in, they have no preperation for their future. Hell, Muhammed Ali would be broke now if someone hadn’t managed his finances before him (behind his back). Of course, would anyone react differently if they just had a pile of money set in front of them? Well, I would… but would most people? Probably not.

Anyway, I just want you to stop using cribs and whatever as a defense for why its OK to download for free. If you wanna do it just say I wanna do it because I can. Heck, I do. But I also understand that I need to support smaller acts (especially if they’re indies) ‘cuz for them every single dollar does count.

Hey, I don’t use it as a defense, I just use it to make a point… that being what I said above: you’re never going to garner public support by crying poverty while airing that show. My defense for downloading is the following: I pretty much only download songs off albums I will never buy. My other defense is: I download songs off albums I already have because it’s easier then dealing with MusicMatch.

Monday Morning Murphy: He ran this as part of a column of his own a while back. Don’t know the legality, but it’s a good theory:

“The file-sharing wars will never fall out of newsworthiness until
someone has been defeated. The issue at stake is, of course, whether
copyrighted material is being illegally traded. Here’s the skinny though: mp3 files are not, by the officially set copyright laws of the United States of America, copyrighted. For one thing, there is no internet copyright law. Nothing pertaining to the usage of material from the internet is specifically stated in our copyright laws. Also, according to the official copyright charter for the US, music is copyrighted by its sheet music. That’s why you can find guitar tabs online but always have to pay for staff. The copyright pertains to the written music, not the sounds itself, since you can’t copyright something intangible. Thus, it isn’t ‘copyrighted music’ being traded over the internet. It is internet files. The files may contain sounds of music, but they aren’t actually the tangible form of music. The internet files being traded aren’t copyrighted, but if they were they’d be copyrighted to the author of the file. So anyone who originally ripped the song from a
cd would be the actual author and true holder of the copyright (since
copyright automatically goes to the creator of the work upon completion, although it can be filed for full proven security). Anyone who has more extensive knowledge of copyright law is welcome to prove me wrong if they can, but I think it is a valid theory as to why the illegalizing of mp3 trading would be unconstitutional.”

Anyone with more extensive knowledge of the copyright law is also welcome to e-mail me and let me know. I don’t know the ins and outs of it either but then, I never went to law school.

Also, if there was any legitimacy to this argument, I would HAVE to think that David Boies would have come up with it during the Napster suit. You don’t get to represent people during Presidential Campaigns without being one of the best.

From my same “in the know” gentleman from last week: One side point. You mentioned Sarah McLaughlin as an artist who, knowing only 3-5 songs on her disk, you wouldn’t buy, you would rather download. You wrote:

“But the question that arises is: how many of those songs that you downloaded were off albums you never would have bought anyway. I like Sarah McLaughlin. A lot. I think she’s very talented and I like a lot of her songs. I will never buy a Sarah McLaughlin disc. Ever. So I download the six or so songs I like from her. Where is the lost sale in there? What money are they losing? The answer to both is none.”

Well that is the way the industry, (artists AND labels), is set up.

Back in the day producers/company execs would TELL an artist what songs they were gonna do. Usually songs that were already famous, (i.e. the Rolling Stones 1st #1 record was a Beatles song), or they would go the route of claiming “co-writing” credits on songs they never touched. Remember that Tom Hanks movie “That Thing You Do”? Kinda like that.

As artists got wise to this practice, and the feel good 60’s hit, Album rock was the norm. artists made an album with an overriding “feel” or concept. think Pink Floyd, Beatles, Doors.

Now when radio is so controlled, artists make what in the industry are called ___ singles albums. In other words this album has __ number of singles on it that we will push. the rest of the songs on the album are the artists choice…more or less. A lot of times I’ll ask my friends to check out track # on a disk and they wont like it…until it comes out as a single 2 months later.

How does this relate to Sarah? Well by industry logic, (ha), the only reason ANYONE would by the disk is to get those singles. Therefore if someone is giving those singles away for free, that equals no sale. Now of course some artists can make an album that is good from front to back, but in most cases when you pop in that disk you just skip to the songs you have heard as singles. So if the singles are the “only” selling point of the disk and you get those for free, that disk will not be sold. In other words the labels want to FORCE you to buy the disk in order to get that song.

Once again it’s all about the money. If the labels said, “Ok you can download so many of our songs for so much or so 1 song for a set amount.” , they would lose money. Reason? Because it would still cost them money to produce the songs, promote the songs, and pay the artists, while you only download 5 songs for a paltry $3.50. Its a don’t upset the apple cart thing: they would rather keep the status quo instead of telling an artist that EVERY song on an album has to be “commercially” viable in order for them to make money.

Remember: artists work on a concept called “recoupment” they don’t see dime 1 until the label (via creative accounting) makes their money back. That’s why Metallica bitches. They can be lazy and make an ok album with 1 or 2 decent songs on, and have their legions of fans buy the album at $15.00 a pop to get em, vs. you downloading them. even at 2 bucks a song that’s only 4 bucks. Do They want that? Hell no. That’s why you do not see so many of the “artists”, (sensitive caring lot that they are), on the side of file sharing. It took em a lot of catsup sandwiches to even get signed, much less get on top and they aren’t gonna screw it up. Why give the masses filet mignon for cheap, when they’ll eat hamburger for $$$.

Once again not defending those guys , just providing the REAL reason why things are the way they are. I didn’t mean to rant on, I only wanted to say thanks, and to tell you that you have gained at at least 1 more hit on your non-wrestling stuff.

By the way, while I haven’t had Cristina or Brittany, rock bands DO travel with some HOT ass who will do ANY one/thing to be in with the band, and the band in its turn will do anything (or volunteer anyone) to get on top.

Pun intended?

Man, I got into the wrong biz. My clients don’t bring around chicks for me to sleep with so I’ll do my work better. Goddammit… why don’t they mention this shit on career day.

And please, feel free to rant on… I’ve learned more from you in two e-mails than I have in three months of writing this column.

Speaking of e-mail… my offer remains open to any band who wants me to plug them online to send me their stuff. So far I’ve gotten two e-mails but no stuff.

Except from Mr. Erik Ashley, of Unfaith. I will be checking his stuff out this week.

And for ALL The rest of you that emailed me over the last few weeks, I will be trying to answer everyone, but I’m not acclimated to THIS much mail. If you don’t get a response, I do apologize.

I, of course, did respond to Drew from Fark, and offered him as much boobies and beer as he could handle to link me more often. The jury is still out on if he will accept.

Support the Children of Iraq

Eighteen of the world’s top pop-stars released an album on Monday to raise war for the children of Iraq. Paul McCartney, George Michael, Avril Lavigne, and David Bowie all contributed tracks to the effort, the proceeds of which will go directly to “War Child,” a children’s fund set up in Yugoslavia.

Soooooooooooooo…. Let’s see, the people who can afford it most are donating tracks to an album that no one is going to buy, rather than just directly donate their own scratch to a cause they support so dearly. Including lovely Miss Avril who has taken every opportunity to down the US and say, ever so eloquently, that war is dumb. However, when it comes to her own cash… well, she’ll donate a track to an album no one wants.

See folks, here’s what I’m talking about. They’ll run their mouths and tell us all how WE’RE supposed to think and react, but it comes up a lot different when it’s their own shit on the line. They’ll spend a day recording a song for an album, but they sure as shit won’t set up, say, a fund and donate 10 or 20 thousand dollars each to start such a fund, will they?

Paul McCartney is quoted in the article as saying: “Whatever the politics, whatever the rights and wrongs of war, children are always the innocent victims. So I am delighted to make this small contribution.”

Salt of the Earth, these guys.

But remember, listen to what they have to say and buy the album. You can do your part to help out the children of Iraq with cash, while they only need to make symbolic contributions. You evil, dirty, rich American you.

Republican or Independent? Who knows

In a move that I’m sure puts me on Modzelewski and Eric S’s side, the Bush Administration filed a brief backing the RIAA in their lawsuit vs Verizon. The lawsuit revolves around Verizon refusing to give their customer records over to the RIAA so they can identify people who are trading songs online. IE: Using Kazaa.

In the brief, the Justice Department (viz: Adolph Ashcroft) urged Federal District Court Judge John Bates to refuse Verizon’s request to quash a subpoena sought by the RIAA under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Under the DMCA, a copyright holder can win a subpoena for a copyright infringer’s identity.

Verizon’s argument is they are a conduit, and what their user’s do are their own business, but they are not responsible to turn over customer records under the First Amendment right to privacy. Assistant Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr drafted the brief which dismissed both of these claims:

“Congress certainly has the authority to direct federal district court clerks to issue similar subpoenas related to cognizable controversies before (the) courts — like a potential copyright-infringement action, With respect to Defendant’s claim that (the DMCA) violates the First Amendment as facially overbroad, Defendant has failed to show that (the law) proscribes spoken words or conduct that is commonly associated with expression, Moreover, (the DMCA) is not facially overbroad because it neither compromises a recognized First Amendment protection of parties not before the Court nor is there a realistic danger that such a compromise would occur.”

Now, keep in mind what he’s saying there. You do not have a right to privacy.

Now 2, make no mistake… the Bush Administration could give two flying shits about whether or not you are trading files on your computer. However, what they DO care about is the way the court system works. The court system in the US is based on precedent… which means a law can be interpreted any way until it comes up in a court proceeding. Once it DOES come up, the way that judge rules affects the application of said law all the way down the line… forever… until an equal or higher court overrules it… meaning if Local judge A rules one way, then Federal Judge B can reverse the ruling and Local Judge A is outranked. Then Federal Judge B can be over ruled by a higher judge and so on to the Supreme Court. (At least, this is my understanding and, if I’m wrong, I’m sure someone will tell me)

Now, keep in mind, GWB is looking to get the Patriot Act over, in which the Government can subpoena your credit card records because you looked at them funny… with no good reason other than they want them. And now Congress is trying to get this act, set to expire in 2005, to become normal law… this in the interest in protecting the country… which is one of the bigger lines of bull that I’ve heard.

Problem is: this hasn’t been applied in any cases yet… and the subpoenaing of information under the DMCA is pretty similar to the subpoenaing of information under the PA. SOOOOO, Friends and Neighbors, if the judge allows the RIAA to subpoena information about YOU because you might be trading songs online, then when the Patriot Act is finally challenged on constitutional grounds, they can point at the application of the DMCA (in this instance) and say “see, precedent says this is just dandy… so give us his credit card applications so we can see if he’s a terrorist.”

Adolph Ashcroft doesn’t care if you’re trading the latest Jay-Z Joint on the Internet (though I have it on good authority that Ashie A’s Ride often has said joint blasting down the streets of DC), but he DOES care if the Patriot Act gets shot down the first time it comes under scrutiny. AND, these two acts are close enough in their non-Americanness that a judge just MIGHT actually listen to the precedent set in this case.

Make no mistake, this Verizon v RIAA case will go to the Supreme Court… and it’s the SINGLE reason I want it to get there before Bush gets another Justice on the bench.

I feel Eric S will be proud of me for this… and for that, I smile.

TDC’s farewell performance

Continuing the theme of this column: no one cares.

For anyone who does though, TLC, or TDC, will be saying sionara at Z100’s Zootopia Concert. It will also include a tribute to Jam Masta Jay and Aaliyah. Curiously, no tribute for Layne Staley is planned.

Becauuuuuuuuuse they donated SO much to the advancement of music, I guess?

Excluding Jam Master Jay… who will always be among the men who got hip-hop introduced to the mainstream. He’s a pioneer and deserves to be fondly remembered. The other two? Eh… there will be four more clones to pick up where they left off.

AeroKiss Tour

In case you hadn’t heard, two of the biggest rock acts of all time will be touring together this summer. Kiss and Aerosmith will be hitting the road together starting in August… The first act will be Saliva (who somehow managed to score this gig… and I’m totally LOST as to how), followed by KISS in the middle slot, and Aeorsmith being the headliner. This kinda surprises me as I would think the KISS set would be the hardest to set up and tear down… but what do I know.

As for Aerosmith, they disappointed me when I saw them in concert. They didn’t play near long enough for 1) the cost of the tickets and 2) the amount of material they have. Fer f*ck’s sake, I paid $40 for Metallica and/or Pearl Jam and they play for close to three hours. I pay $45 for Aerosmith and they put on maybe an hour and a half? Not going to to cut it, guys… not for my money.

As for Kiss, never been a fan… but I’m sure that don’t matter to them. As the biggest rock band of all time, I’m sure they will sell out arenas without me. As for their dates:

Aug. 02 – ctnow.com Meadows Music – Hartford, CT
Aug. 04 – Jones Beach Th. – Wantagh, NY
Aug. 09 – Nissan Pavilion – Bristow, VA
Aug. 11 – P.N.C. Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
Aug. 13 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
Aug. 15 – TBA – Detroit, MI
Aug. 17 – Verizon Wireless Music Center – Noblesville, IN
Aug. 19 – Germain Amphitheater – Columbus, OH
Aug. 21 – Post-Gazette Pavilion @ Star Lake – Burgettstown, PA
Aug. 23 – Darien Lake Six Flags P.A.C. – Darien Center, NY
Aug. 25 – Tweeter Center – Mansfield, MA
Aug. 27 – Tweeter Center – Mansfield, MA
Aug. 29 – Tweeter Center At The Waterfront – Camden, NJ
Aug. 30 – Hershey Park Stadium – Hershey, PA
Sep. 03 – Blossom Music Center – Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Sep. 05 – Tweeter Center – Tinley Park, IL
Sep. 06 – Alpine Valley Music Theatre – East Troy, WI
Sep. 12 – Sound Advice Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
Sep. 14 – HiFi Buys Amphitheatre – Atlanta, GA
Sep. 17 – Verizon Wireless Virginia Bch. Amp. – Virginia Beach, VA
Sep. 19 – Verizon Wireless Amp. Charlotte – Charlotte, NC
Sep. 20 – Alltel Pavilion @ Walnut Creek – Raleigh, NC
Sep. 23 – AmSouth Amphitheatre – Antioch, TN
Sep. 25 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Bonner Springs, KS
Sep. 27 – UMB Bank Pavilion – Maryland Heights, MO
Sep. 30 – Fiddler’s Green Amph. – Englewood, CO
Oct. 02 – Smirnoff Music Centre – Dallas, TX
Oct. 04 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Selma, TX
Oct. 05 – C.W. Mitchell Pavilion – The Woodlands, TX
Oct. 08 – Cricket Pavilion – Phoenix, AZ
Oct. 10 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA
Oct. 12 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA
Oct. 15 – Coors Amphitheatre – Chula Vista, CA
Oct. 18 – Hyundai Pavilion Of Glen Helen – Devore, CA

The closest they get to me is Darien Lake and Jones Beach, which are a good five or three hour drive, respectively. I did go that far for Roger Watters a few years back… but I don’t think I like either band enough for it to be worth it… as cool as Six Flags is as a concert venue.

In Other concert news, fuggin Godsmack/Breaking Benjamin will be through my area… which is good. Problem is they’re coming through on Memorial Day weekend. Bastards. The ONE weekend that I’m away and don’t want to drive.

St. Anger News

Metallica.com has released the cover artwork and the new logo for the band… who have gotten away from the swastika-esque logo and more toward the Old Skool logo.

Word on the street is if you look at the new logo for too long, Metallica will sue you for abuse of their art.

New This Week

Again, not a goddam thing. Madonna’s new one… minus the tracks cussing out her fans. And the Blue Man Group. Save your money… wait for Staind.

In Other Site Drama Reading

Murphy scored an Interview with Nick Wheeler of the All American Rejects. I still have yet to get ANY FREE MUSIC SHIT, DAMMIT.

Biscuiti gets pimps because he continues to rule.

As does Katz.

And sure, Evocator with a lil bit of the Sabbath.

In Closing

That’ll do it for me… earlier than usual, actually. Hope you’re all enjoying… and if there’s any repeat fark readers… drop me a line. I’m curious if I retained any.

Cocozza and Claire up next… I’ll be in wrestling on Saturday. See y’all then.